Local skateboarders are one step closer to having a place to call their own along the Schuylkill River.
The Schuylkill River Skatepark Project has released two designs for the new skatepark, which will be located just south of the Philadelphia Museum of Art near the waterfront.
The two competing designs -- known as the "spiral scheme" and the "shard scheme" -- are available for public consideration before one is chosen in May.
"We wanted to present two ideas that were different from each other, one focusing a lot on curves and the other focusing on straight lines," said Brian Nugent of SkateNerd, one of the organizations working on the designs. "We approached it from the way an architect would."
Anthony Bracali Architecture, the firm responsible for the designs, said that the next step is finalizing a design to present to city officials.
Architect Anthony Bracali said that no cost estimates have yet been made.
"Once we begin to focus on a single design, we will be able to see what the construction budget will be," Bracali said.
Nugent indicated that the designs -- which were unveiled Friday to a crowd of about 100 -- have met a largely positive response, though some have clamored for the pace of the process to increase.
"People want a place now," Nugent said.
The skatepark project comes in response to the strict enforcement of the skateboarding ban in Love Park -- near City Hall at the intersection of 15th Street and JFK Boulevard -- after its renovation in 2002.
For Engineering junior Samuel Park, the skatepark project is a positive development.
"Part of the reason I came to Philly was to skate [in Love Park], and I was a little disappointed about" the ban, he said. "I think [the new skatepark will] be good for the younger kids so they won't get hassled by the police when they go out to skate."
Still, the park's designers say that the area won't simply be about skateboarding.
"It's a public space; it's dynamic, you get a great view of the river," Nugent said. "Even if skateboarding wasn't in the picture, I'd imagine this design would be similar to what it is now."
The plan for the Schuylkill River Skatepark Project was first unveiled to the public in January.
